


Lies of Omission

by Lassarina



Series: 2017 Sev and Rina Prompt Extravaganza [24]
Category: Magna Carta: Tears of Blood
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 11:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13212597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lassarina/pseuds/Lassarina
Summary: Nothing said here has only one meaning.





	Lies of Omission

Lester is swarming with Alliance soldiers, many of whom Agreian knows, but none of whom are the right one. At last he sees his childhood friend approaching, and something unknots in his stomach. He would like to believe it is only at the relief that his plan for the Light of Salvation remains intact, but it is both more and less than that. The ruse works because it holds grains of truth, and he was not lying when he told Calintz that he was too valuable to lose.

"General Agreian, I'm glad to see that you're all right." Calintz pauses before him, his expression troubled.

"I should be the one saying that. You’re the one who disappeared without a trace. You’ll be the death of me, you know..." There is more truth than he intended in the way his voice changes on the last sentence.

Calintz blushes a little, a mercenary unfazed by violence who is still so unsettled by such simple flirtation. It makes Agreian want to make him do it again. "Don’t say that..." His voice catches, too.

Agreian draws a deep breath and reminds himself that they are in public. "Well, I knew you were safe." He waits, but Calintz doesn't volunteer information. "So, is there something wrong?" He needs to know what Calintz knows about the girl he escorted to the inn. He needs to know how much he must adjust his plans.

"Yes, I wanted to ask you something." Calintz explains the situation quickly.

When Agreian hears it, it's all he can do not to break down laughing. He would not have predicted that Amila would shatter her own mind defending Epentar from the Forbidden Magic, but it's beautifully true to form, for the Blast Worms are not nearly as clever as she, and it gives him and the Turibo more breathing room. He assures Calintz that he will see to it that the girl is cared for. Then he leans close. "I have a strategy meeting in a half hour," he murmurs low in Calintz's ear, "but I would like to see you, tonight."

Even Calintz cannot mistake the implication there; his blush returns, but he nods agreement. Agreian turns him loose to attend to his new lost lamb, and wonders if Calintz even recognizes how he yearns for her already. If he were truly Calintz's friend, and Amila Reith Riein Zes was who she seems, they would be perfect together; since he is friend to neither of them, they are perfect for each other in another way.

Fate aligns strangely from time to time.

He goes to his meeting, and waits impatiently for night.

~*~

Calintz climbs the stairs of the inn, feeling awkward. He left Reith in Eonis's capable hands, saying that he needed to meet with the general. Eonis only nodded gravely, but he thinks she knows. She wouldn't be the only one; half the Alliance commanders think he's Agreian's toy.

It doesn't help that they're right.

It's not as though he tried to gain position this way. It's only that Agreian is his oldest and dearest friend, and they've always been close.

When he knocks, Agreian lets him in and hands him a glass of wine right off. The general's room is tidy, with maps and documents stacked in careful precision on the desk. It is a mark of rank that he has a room at all; most of the soldiers are sleeping in tents, unless they have the coin for a room, as the Tears of Blood do. Lehas would begrudge the Sid, but Reith can't stay outside, and so they don't.

"So," Agreian says as he settles next to Calintz on the sofa, "tell me about your priestess."

It makes him uncomfortable when Agreian calls Reith his, as though he owned her, and it makes him uncomfortable because he has some of the same feelings toward her as he does to Agreian, but his old friend doesn't want to hear about that. So instead he tells of how he found her in the cave, and tries not to talk about how he feels about it. He's very good at not talking about his feelings; he should be, after this much practice.

"You like her," Agreian observes when he's done, and Calintz starts to protest. Agreian waves a hand. "That's not a bad thing," the general says. "I think she would be good for you." He pauses. "I'm not jealous, if that's what worries you."

Calintz doesn't know what to say to that. "She's my responsibility."

Agreian laughs. "Is that what I am to you, old friend? A responsibility?" He seems amused by the prospect, not offended, and his hand is resting on Calintz's thigh.

"No," Calintz says, and drinks the wine. "I'm no good at this."

"I disagree." He leans in for a kiss, and Calintz sinks his hands into Agreian's pale hair, pulling him closer. This, he understands, even if he doesn't have words for it. It's easy to rely on Agreian, to trust in him to have Calintz's best interests at heart, as he always has.

He knows Agreian won't let him down.

~*~

"For a while, I suspected you." Agreian's words about the spy within the Alliance swirl in Calintz's head, long after he left the room. It's true that someone in the Alliance—someone highly placed—has to be feeding information to the Yason; they are simply too well informed. It hurts a little that Agreian blamed him, but Calintz sees the logic in it too. He's a mercenary, and even if his main employer has been the Alliance for years, a mercenary can only be trusted if he stays bought. 

Why does Hugo keep giving him the most dangerous missions if he's too valuable to lose?

 _Why_ is he so valuable in the first place?

~*~

 _"I commend you for your efforts, Calintz."_ Agreian's sneering words ring in his head as he turns toward the Queen, seeing the Earth Shard pinned to her dress, glowing vivid yellow.

He yearned for those words, desperately wanted his old friend's approval, and now he sees a never-ending chain of lies—things Agreian said that were never untrue, but were never actually true either, and sees just how long Agreian has been working this plan.

He looks back into his old friend's face, and then into his mother's, and then he does the only thing he knows how to do: he fights the Yason.

There, too, lies betrayal. There, too, are lies beyond number, when the mask falls away and reveals the face of the woman he loves: a lie, a Yason.

The ground seems to shatter under his feet as the maelstrom comes, as Amila—Reith—flings the sphere of power up against the fire, and Calintz shatters with it as power strikes power and flings them all to the ground.

He drags himself to his knees, his ears ringing, and then gets up. He looks for his mother, looks for Reith—

There is nothing but her mask.

This is the worst betrayal of them all. He swore to protect her.

Calintz breaks.


End file.
